The Social Deconstruction of a Paradox: Using Social Theory to Succeed within a Niche Market.
Abstract
When a new business tries to introduce a combination of ideas that
seem conflicting, deconstructing the social meaning of those concepts is
necessary to the ultimate goal of creating a more full public
understanding. Innovative businesses might need to destroy the social
meaning of some of their components in order to be defined in new and
more cooperative terms. Business, until now, has continued on with its
innovations without the supplement of theoretical explanations of social
acceptance. Working businesses often ascribe success and failure to
random factors, unaware of the social processes at work. It seems
logical to apply social theory to business concepts in order to enrich
marketing plans with consideration for the patterns of society. I will
apply these theories to a business, Ope’s healthy fast food, for the
purpose of providing an example for the enhancement of a marketing
perspective.
Ope’s is a new restaurant that is pioneering the blend of traditional
notions of fast food, with health food and vegetarian practice. There is a
dilemma in presenting this idea to the public. The phrase “fast food”
combined with either the word healthy, or vegetarian, is a paradox in the
minds of modern Americans. All of those terms in one concept is almost
paralyzing to consumers. In order for the public to accept the
establishment, the paradox would need to be logically reconciled.
Social theorists Peter Berger and Thomas Luckmann introduce reality
as an objective construction of human knowledge. Reality is a social
construction with parts that must be maintained by the collective society.
The responsibility of maintaining social reality is broken down into roles
by which people are identified. Role identities, even stereotypes are
important to the project because these social expectations and
definitions are powerful limiting factors when introducing a new concept
to the public. Role identities tie in the sociological notion of systems of
meaning, psychological theory of cognitive typification and business
practices of niche marketing. People have certain associations with
different kinds of people, political practices, or types of environments
and do not necessarily possess the capacity to overlap those categories.
This mentality is unforgiving, though widespread, and if not approached
in the correct manner, could be the destruction of an innovation.
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